She runs away from her problems and hides from Drake. She doesn’t want to hear his velvety voice trying to explain things. She doesn’t want to know why he hurt her, because Erin can’t get over the fact that he has. Erin goes to her best friend’s house and stays there for several weeks licking her wounds. But she knows that she has to face the museum closure, and more importantly she has to finally deal with Drake. Will she be able to listen to him and be close to him without falling for him once again? Erin isn’t sure, but she knows that she can’t put him off any longer. She has to face him and face the love that she has for the man.
Chapter 1 – Erin
I don’t know why, but as I watched Mary leave, I knew that she had found far too much pleasure in telling me the news. I had always been warned to stay away from people like her, and now I knew why. She was the vicious sort, and it made me think that she had something for Drake. She wouldn’t have had so much venom if there wasn’t something extra.
After I called Bishop, I opened the contract and looked it over. I just wanted to see for myself that Drake had actually gone through with it. I don’t know why I actually needed to see it, but I figured that if I saw it in black and white, I would finally get it through my head. It had all been a game to him, and I had fallen for it. I had fallen for him, and I should have known better. It was silly of me to think that he actually wanted me for anything more than a little entertainment.
Seeing it was worse than hearing it from that vile woman who worked with Drake. Of course he had sold it, and I knew then that he had no intention of keeping it as it was. He was going ahead with his original plan. I’d been stupid to think that he would keep his part of the agreement. People like Drake may have inherited most of their wealth, but they also knew a lot about how to keep it. His ways and his family’s ways were not exactly moral.
I set the papers down and was thankful that it was almost time to leave. I knew that I was supposed to be worried about other things, but I wasn’t. I didn’t care that I was still going to lose my job and my place to live. I was just bummed out that he had lied to me. I felt used, and I knew then that whatever I had felt for him was based on a lie. He had gotten what he wanted, and now that the sale was final he wouldn’t have any use of me. It was all just a game, and I felt like the real loser.
The only good part about all of it was the fact that it was almost time to go for the day. It was Friday and I didn’t have to worry about coming to work the next day. The way I was feeling, with the sinking thoughts in my head, I wouldn’t have made it in anyways. Why was I killing myself for a sinking ship? I was ready to just call it quits right there, but I knew that I would feel better by Monday. I just needed to get away from it all, and living above my work wasn’t helping.
I called the only person I ever wanted to be around when I felt like this. Luckily enough, Rose was home. I didn’t know when she was leaving again for work, but I knew it would be soon. When she answered, I felt a rush of relief. I just needed to get away, and she was the one person who could make me feel better about it all.
When she told me to just come down, I packed a few things and made my way to the south side of the city. I tried to think of anything else but Drake. It was hard, though. I had spent every single day of the last couple of weeks with him, and the last few nights he had made love to me like no one else ever had before. My body wanted him badly, although my mind rejected the whole idea of it. I was never going to see him again, and if I did, I was sure that it would be too soon. I wasn’t going to be an idiot for him again. I knew that my heart couldn’t take another blow like that. It had barely managed to heal from the first time I realized that he had played me. Now that I knew for sure, and I had fallen for him, the reality of it was so much harsher.
Pulling up to Rose’s apartment, I turned off the car and sat there for several moments trying to regain my composure. I was sure that there were things going on that I didn’t understand, but I did know that he had lied, and that seemed to be the most important part of it all. I pushed the tears out of the corners of my eyes and tried to straighten myself up. I pinched my cheeks a little to make my eyes look less red. It didn’t help much, but I knew that Rose would see right through me anyways.
When I got upstairs to her apartment, I could smell some kind of foreign food being cooked. I knew that she had her boyfriend there, and while I was eager to meet the one who made Rose so happy, I wished for a few moments that it was just her up there and we could have the talk that I needed to have. I was in a situation that I had never been in before, and I truly did not know what to do.
I saw her and she just looked at me with her lips out. “Honey, come here.”
I don’t know how she knew this, but she knew that I was a wreck. It was one of those times that I needed her. After a while I got myself together and made sure that I was not crying anymore. It turned out that her boyfriend was gone, and she just kind of waved him off when he came in later. It was good to know that for the time being, I still had my friend.
“So do you want to talk about it, Erin?”
I told her that I did, but I didn’t really know how to start. How was I going to tell her that I had fallen in way over my head, my life was in tatters and all I could think about was the few nights that I had spent with Drake? It was all just too much, and I was the one living it. I knew that it wasn’t going to be any easier for her to take it all. So I just told her everything that was going on. It was a lot, and her eyes widened several times during my little tale. I didn’t know what else to tell her to make it all better. It was a mess, and I could really feel that now.
“Wow, Erin. Why didn’t you tell me about all of this?”
I kind of shrugged. Rose was always busy. There was really nothing that I could do but just give out a big sigh. “I just couldn’t. I didn’t even know what was going on, really. I knew that it wasn’t going to last long, but then in the end there I kind of thought there was something there. I guess there wasn’t, is all. It was all just to get into my pants. Now I still have no job and no place to live in a couple of weeks, so I am just hiding out for the weekend. You don’t mind, do you?”
“I don’t mind, but maybe it isn’t as bad as it seems. You should try to call him and see what is really going on. That Mary lady doesn’t sound like the nicest person. She could have just been jealous or something.”
I wanted to believe her, but I was almost certain that it wasn’t like that at all. I was sure that he had just used the museum to get what he wanted. I had fallen for it too, hook, line and sinker, but that was a little harder to admit than all of the rest. I had fallen so hard, so fast for a man who was just using me for amusement. That really was the worst of it, and the hardest part to get over.
***
Drake made it even harder, because he wouldn’t leave me alone. I don’t know what his problem was. I sent him one text congratulating him on the deal. I may have been a little snippy about everything, and the congratulation was not heartfelt, but at least I had said something to end it. It was a little bit of closure for me, but Drake took it as an invitation to keep contacting me. He wouldn’t stop calling and texting for a whole week. I finally just turned my phone off all together and got a new number. I got rid of everything that reminded me of Drake on my phone and tried to get on with it all.
Rose was about to go back down to South America for another magazine shoot, and while she had told me that I could stay there, I didn’t have long to get back home and start packing everything up. I had already dropped the ball at work in so many ways. I just didn’t care, and I was sick of being the only one who seemed to. Since Bishop couldn’t be bothered and Drake was just going demolish most of it, why was I supposed to care?
I tried to run off of that feeling as I made my way back home. I was finally getting some peace because Drake didn’t have a number to call, and I kept telling myself that I had all of the time in the world to chill out. As long as I didn’t see him, I was sure everything was goi
ng to be okay.
Chapter 2 – Drake
I had just bought another phone. It was the third one in a week, and as I got the dial tone again telling me that the number was no longer in service, I was debating how long I was going to have the one in my hand. I had listened to the same message five different times. I had put the number in right, I was sure of it, but every time I tried again, on the off chance that I had punched in the wrong number, I would get the same message. I wasn’t dense, but I was sure feeling that way. I couldn’t believe that she had changed her number.
Sitting back in my office chair, I was still unsure how to go forward. I had tried texting, calling, and even going over to the museum after I had gotten her message, but she had just vanished without a trace. I didn’t know where she was, but I knew one thing for sure: she was gone. It was driving me crazy, and I still wasn’t sure how she’d found out. I was starting to think that someone had her ear, but I didn’t know what was going on.
After a week I should have forgotten her, but I couldn’t. I wanted to say that it was because I had worked so hard for her, but I knew it was because of something else. Being with her, inside of her, was too much to forget. Erin had gotten to me. She had wormed her way into my heart and she wasn’t letting go of it.
I passed by the museum that evening on my way home. The lights on the top were still off, and that meant that she wasn’t there. She hadn’t been home the whole week, and she hadn’t called into work. I was starting to worry whether I was ever going to see her again.
When I got home, the whole house still reminded me of her. The bedroom was the worst, and I had gotten to where I was using the guest room on the other side of the house. I swore that when I lay down in the bed where we had made love, I could still smell her. All it did was make everything about her being gone worse, so instead of the slow torture, I just tried my best to make sure that I didn’t have to be reminded of her at all. I had never felt this way before, and I was torn between wanting it to end and wanting it to be never ending. I wasn’t sure about everything I wanted, but I wanted another shot with Erin if nothing else.
The next day I tried to call her again. There was no answer, only the recording telling me that she had in fact changed her number. I knew that it was because of me and I knew that there wasn’t much else I could do. The museum was now a place that I stopped over at in the night and in the morning. I was convinced that if I went at the right time, I would find her and she would be there waiting for me. But once again she wasn’t, and I went to work with a heavy heart. I was starting to think that I had lost her before I ever really had her.
The day went by slowly. All I could think about was what I couldn’t have. I wasn’t used to not getting what I wanted. Ever since I was little, I had been given anything that my heart desired. Why couldn’t Erin be one of those things and come around to everything that was going on? Why couldn’t she just forgive me?
I heard a knock on the door and looked up to see Mary standing there. She was as beautiful as ever, and there was a part of me that had appreciated her from the start. She had always been pretty, sexy and everything else that one would want a woman to be, but there was something holding me back when she gave me that come hither look like she was right then.
“Hey, Mary, haven’t seen you in a week or so. What have you been up to?”
“I’ve been busy with the opening for the new club.”
“That isn’t for months.”
She kind of nodded and moved around to my side of the desk. My eyes instantly went to her long legs. I could still remember them wrapped around my waist. It took a valiant effort on my part to get away from them and back up to her face. The knowing smile was there, and I knew I was in for it. It was hard to say no to her, and the last time I had kicked myself for not getting what I had been offered. It wasn’t what I had wanted, but it was more than I was getting from Erin. A man had needs, after all.
“I know how you like to be prepared, so I wanted to make sure that everything is set.”
I liked her answer, and the way she was moving her legs ever so slightly so that the fabric pulled up on her thighs. She knew exactly what she was doing. She was driving me crazy is what she was doing. I looked up at Mary after a moment and she grinned at me. It had been too long, and my member was rock-hard in my pants. There was no denying what she did to me, but it wasn’t about her.
“I see that you are in need of other assistance as well, Drake.”
I shook my head after a moment when her hands went down to my lap. I felt her hand close in around my stiffness, and it felt huge in her hand. She had always had these tiny hands that made a man feel larger than life. I had always liked that about her. I had always liked a lot of things about Mary. She was in a category all her own, and my body was raring to go. I had spent so much time working on Erin and then getting only a few times with her before I was waiting for her again. It seemed like I was always waiting around for Erin to come around. Mary was right there, and she was as needy as I was.
She moved in front of me, leaning down to kiss me. It was when our lips touched that I really felt like I shouldn’t be there. I shouldn’t be touching her. I pushed her away for the second time in as many weeks. My brain was screaming at me to not be so stupid, but my heart wanted Erin and nothing else would do.
“Are you kidding me, Drake?”
Mary was suddenly not afraid to show her true feelings, and I can’t say that I liked the new openness she was willing to bring to the situation. I had known for a while that she felt more for me than I did for her, but that was normal. I was used to it, but I was not used to it from her. She was my assistant, after all. I needed her on top of her game. If she was arguing with me, it meant that I was going to have to work it out or find another PR assistant.
“Look, Mary, I just can’t right now. Everything that is going on and all, there is not much that I can do.”
“It’s about Erin, isn’t it?”
I didn’t like to even hear her say Erin’s name out loud. I didn’t like the sound of it in her tone and the way it rolled off of her lips. It occurred to me then that I knew who had told Erin about the deal. It wasn’t Bishop when he got the contract, it was Mary all along. She was so angry that I had told her no. The look on her face made her guilt rather clear.
“What it is about is none of your business, Mary. You work for me and that is all.”
***
My day just kept getting worse. I left a couple of messages on Erin’s phone at the museum. She couldn’t change the number on that one, but it looked like she still hadn’t made it in for work yet. I had called too many times to admit to and still she was not giving me the time of day. Brandon called and I hoped that he would settle my mood. Instead he just gave me more information to mull over.
“So how is everything going with the new site?”
“It’s going alright.” I couldn’t keep the disappointment from my own tone, no matter how badly I wanted to.
“What’s going on?”
Brandon was a good friend and a long-time business partner, but he was not the type of friend that I could bare my soul to. I don’t think I had any friends like that, hadn’t in a while.
“Not much, really. Just got a lot going on.”
“So what did Mary think of the new place?”
A mention of her made me frown into the phone. I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do with her. I could do anything that needed to be done, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to fire her yet. She did a good job when she wasn’t worried about what I was doing.
“I think she just ran over there to drop off a contract. I don’t think she was there long.”
“I have passed by and seen her there twice. I thought she was doing more work over there than that.”
It occurred to me that Mary had been out of the office a lot. I took it as a blessing that she was not worried about me like she was last week. Now I wondered if she was going there to see Erin. How long had
she been sabotaging me with Erin?
“She has been acting on her own for a while now.”
Brandon kind of chuckled, and I could see that he already understood what was going on. I don’t know why it took me so long to see it myself. “I told you to keep it out of house. If you have to see them every day, they are going to see you when you get another one.”
He was crude, always had been, and I could tell that he was already hitting the bottle today, but Brandon was right. I had made a mistake with Mary and I was going to pay for it now. If things went the way they were going, she would be the reason I wasn’t with Erin. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to deal with that. It was the first time that I realized that I was actually going to have to get rid of her. I didn’t think that a severance package was going to be enough to cut it with her. I should have taken Brandon’s advice from the start.
“Well, you were right, my friend. I shouldn’t have taken her, but now I’m stuck with her.”
“Get rid of her. I’ll take her off your hands.”
While his offer was tempting, I knew that she wasn’t property that I could just give away. On the other hand, it seemed only right, because they were perfect for each other in so many ways.
“I will see if she is ready for a new opportunity and send her your way. I am firing her today.”
Brandon chuckled again and said that he didn’t mind taking my cast-offs. It was not the way I would have worded it, and I felt guilty about how relieved I was, but that was as far as it was going to go. There was still the fact that while he hadn’t worded it quite the way I would have, Brandon was right.
Chapter 3 – Rose Woods
It was the last meeting of the week before I went back to South America for a little while. Erin was still camped out on my couch and I would be blind to not know and see that it was because of the very man that I was supposed to be waiting for. When I had first seen Drake, I’d seen him as a handsome man. It was impossible not to. But I didn’t know he would go on to break Erin’s heart. I felt protective of her, and in a way I felt guilty for even finishing his job. But with the iron-clad contract that he’d had me sign, I didn’t have much choice.
The Priceless One: A Billionaire Romance Novel (Contemporary Romance Novels) (Complete Series: Books 1 - 3) Page 6